Scattered
by Susan Drakian
Summary: The horcruxes are destroyed. But what happens when Hermione stumbles into Tom Riddle in Limbo? Has he really changed. Or is he just pretending in hopes that she will make him whole once again. Scattered in eight separate areas. Hermione must track them down, and risk her own life. For the demons that reside there. Would love nothing more. Than to see her dead. Sucky summary!


**Authors note: Here's another story, forgive me for adding more instead of updating what's there. I had been bitten by the idea bug and I was terrified of forgetting so I went ahead and wrote it up. I do not own Harry potter nor do I profit from it. As first chapters go. I've done worse this didn't turn out to bad. Some of you probably know that first chapters are not my forte **

**I'm putting a lot up today so check out my other stories ^^. I'm making up for being in the hospital for over a month, then my mom getting admitted two weeks after I was released. for a week and at the same time my dad who is states away was on life support so I was in no condition to write or update or even know what day it was or what is going on. Everything's alright now . I'm fine. My moms fine. Dads still in the hospital but no longer on a respirator so that's good news. And I'm no longer emotionally comprised and it is safe to continue doing what is my escape. (Writing)**

**Sorry for the Personal info I just wanted to inform my readers what's been going on and I don't think anyone actually reads profiles. Also with hurricane Sandy on the way I wanted to put this up because who knows when I will be able to post again. Though I will have much more to put up once it's passed. Shish This October has been horrible. **

_The first thing noticeable was a pure bright light the young girl squeezed her eyes tight. Trying to keep the light out. When that didn't work she slowly opened her eyes blinking them as her pupils shrunk and her eyes adjusted to the light. Realizing she wasn't in bed and very confused to where she was, she lifted herself off the hard floor where she had woken . _

_The second thing she noticed, after she took a moment to take in her surroundings, that she was in a large seemingly endless library. It was also eerily quiet, there was no noise what so ever, it was oddly calming. _

_Instead of feeling fear, she felt at peace like she could be stuck here forever and she wouldn't care. As she walked her feet made no sound against the floor. She ran her fingers over the tombs as she passed them, they felt real, an when she touched them color started to return to them._

_She didn't know where she was going, but her feet seemed to. She traveled down isle after isle, searching for something that she knew she had to find though she at the moment couldn't think of what. After what seemed after an eternity she caught something from the corner of her eye. Stopping she took a closer look down one of the isles, there were tables with lamps, quills and parchments. But, what caught her attention was a boy who appeared to be about her age. _

_He was leaned back in one of the chairs balancing on the back legs of it, his feet up on the table. A book open in his hand. His eyes were closed and his dark hair seemed a dark contrast against the white of the room. He had one hand on his forehead with his thumb and middle fingers on his temples, he…was in pain. And trying to fight it. _

"Are you ok?"

_The young man's eyes snapped open and he shifted so the chair was on the ground and he put the book he was holding on the table. He looked at her with dark eyes that showed the pain he was trying so hard not to show. He was pale and gaunt like his skin was stretched to much over his bones, to her he looked like someone who's soul was being slowly sucked out of him. _

"You shouldn't be here! It's not safe."

"What do you mean? It seems safe to me."

"Go! Run why you still can." _He seemed panicked now and was looking around him as if waiting for some evil beast to pop out of no where. _

"What ar-" _She stopped seeing him staring above her head just past her. Turning to see what he was looking at, discovering blackness rapidly consuming the white library and heading their way, swallowing the light like a black hole and several creatures running ahead of it toward them. _

"They are here for you, you have to get out of here!" _He urged again. _

_The creatures were white mutated and twisted with soulless black eyes and long fingers the nails on them were sharp as a dagger, yellow and poisonous looking. _

"Shit it's to late." _He grabbed her upper arm with surprising strength and urged her backwards. Not needing to be told twice she turned and started running, the boy slightly ahead of her guiding her to wherever a supposedly safe area was. _

_She didn't know how long they ran but she began to feel weak and tired. Soon however as they took a sharp right between two bookcases she saw he was taking her to a door. It was brown with a red ward . _

_They were almost to the door when Hermione felt a sharp pain and fell to her knees hissing. One of the creatures had caught up to them and scratched her deep from her left shoulder to the right of her hip. She could feel the blood trickling down her body. Her vision started to swim, she guessed the claws were poisonous. _

_Through her blurred vision she saw the boy take out a wand that she couldn't quite make out but seemed very familiar she couldn't place it though. A bright light erupted from the tip of the wand, a silver snake patronus. _

_So fast that she couldn't register what was going on he picked her up bridal style, she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck as he brought her into the room. _

"Where are we?" _Even as she spoke she could hear her voice fading. _

"Shhh, You need to relax a little we are in what you could say , my home. May I roll you over so I can see the damage?" _He asked politely and she obeyed. His voice was like liquid velvet, somewhat deep and held power behind it. She felt she could trust him. _

_She felt him lift her shirt, she burried her face in her arms to hide the blush creeping over her cheeks. She heard rustling and a clank of a tin being opened before feeling hot liquid being poured over her wounds she felt a painful tug like something was forcibly drawing out the poison, and a form of cloth was being wiped over the wound which hurt, a lot. _

_Immediately her vision began to come back into focus and she could take in her surroundings so she lifted her head off her arms to get a look._

_They were in a small twelve by fourteen room. She was on the bed the only furniture around. The walls were covered in wards, markings, and things even she had never seen before. She turned her attention to the boy to get a closer look at him. _

_On closer inspection she realized he was a couple of years older than her so boy wouldn't be the word to describe him, man yes but not a boy. He seemed to sense her looking at him and he locked his dark gaze to hers and gave a small smile, a smile she returned. _

"Thank you…for saving me."

"You're welcome miss? I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name. I was to shocked to see another person here…How did you get here anyway? I don't think you are like me…" _He trailed off as if he was muttering the last part to himself. _

"My name's Hermione, Hermione Granger. I don't know how I got here the last thing I remember was going to sleep and I woke up here. Where _is _here anyway?" _Hermione felt him pull down her shirt and made sure she was decent before letting her get up. she silently thanked that he was a gentleman before sitting up in the bed and crossing her legs to face him. _

_He was sitting on his knees with a genuine look of concern. _

"Hello Hermione, my name is Tom, Tom Riddle. As for where you are. You are in limbo. Though I don't know why someone innocent and not cursed is here. "

_Hermione stopped beating for as split second before starting up again with a quicker pace. She closed her eyes and collected her thoughts. Considering where she was, and who she was with, freaking out wouldn't be a smart move since there was no where for her to go. Still the dark lord had just saved her, was being a gentlemen even pleasant. She couldn't tell if it was an act or genuine though. _

"L-limbo? I'm in limbo? Are you cursed? You said only the cursed come here." _As hard as she tried she couldn't quite take the stutter and fear out of her voice. Luckily for her it seemed as if the dark wizard took that as fear of Limbo than actually a fear of him. _

"Yes, your in Limbo. As for why I'm here. You could say I am cursed. Cursed because a stupid mistake I made as a youth I'm scattered in 8 different places. Being drained each day but never dying. Always in pain. That is my curse. But, now I'm helping you get out you are still innocent." _As he looked at her and she could swear she could feel his pain. It felt like something was sucking the very life out of her like a Dementor, but worse slowly. And didn't have the depressed feeling. _

"What were those things? That chased us, and how do I get out of here?"

"Some form of Demon I believe. And how you get out of here is the same way you got in. Sleep."

_Did he actually believe she would sleep in the same room as him? She would rather die first than be in a vulnerable position like that. _

"By the look on your face you seem very horrified about the idea of going to sleep with a guy in the room you don't know or trust."

"Something like that. Yeah."

"Well you don't need to worry about that. I'm going back out there, and don't give me that face."

_Hermione was staring at him in disbelief and was about to make a run for the door to block his path momentarily forgetting who he was_.

"They won't do anything to me. They want me to suffer, you on the other hand are safer here. I assure you by the time I come back you will be gone." _He got up and took his wand and pointed it at Hermione. "Protego" A blue light shined from his wand and then he was out of the room leaving Hermione dumb founded. _

_She waited a few more minutes making sure that he wouldn't be coming back before getting out of bed and started to explore the room. Besides the bed the only other object was a box. Which she curiously opened to find it filled with first aid. She wondered if this was Limbo, how he got the supplies. _

_At the bottom of the box was a familiar black journal with gold letters engraved on the front. Taking it out she put it in the box and climbed up onto the bed tucking her legs under her she opened it. Not expecting anything only to find was each page had writing. _

_The writing was elegant and loopy. She didn't read it yet she skimmed it until she spotted Ginny's familiar messy scrawl toward the end of the book. On the last written page there were replica's of the symbols around the room she was in. _

_She wanted to read it but as she started to she began to feel dizzy and her vision swam. Giving up she put the journal beside the pillow and laid down. Staring at the door as sleep slowly overcame her. She didn't notice the door open and tom walking back in. _

Gasping Hermione sat bolt up right in bed putting her fingers through her hair. Trying to calm her racing heart she frantically looked around the room. She relaxed she was in her cream colored room with the same purple and silver bed sheets and blanket, same pictures of her friends on the night stand.

"Just a dream.." She sighed in relief and move to get out of bed when pain shot up her back. Hissing in pain she gritted her teeth and slowly lifted herself off the bed using the mahogany post of the bed as a crutch to help her up.

She quickly went to her bathroom and removed her shirt and turned away looking over her shoulder she gazed at the mirror and covered her mouth to keep back a scream. For there were the markings.

The markings were clear as day. 3 long scratches were open and bleeding going from her left shoulder to her right hip. Taking a bottle of disinty from the medicine cabinet she opened it and filled a dropper with the liquid before she dropped the liquid over her wounds the skin started to knit itself together. She sighed in relief as the pain left her body.

She removed the rest of her cloths and turned on the hot water, super hot and slipped in and shut the curtain. She focused on washing the blood off and getting ready for the day the best she could.

The whole time she was getting dressed and ready for work her mind was going a mile a minute. No matter how many times she replayed the dream that she was starting to believe was more than a dream. One thought kept popping into her head. One she had no answer to.

Tom Riddle had saved her… The recently Deceased Lord Voldemort. Though now she had to question how "dead" he really was. Had just saved her life. What she didn't know was why he saved her life and what was going on.

As she put her shoes on and got ready to go to her apperation spot when she caught site of Riddles diary on the bed. Curiously she picked it up with the intention of showing her best friends. When a sudden feeling that she didn't want to bother them with something that may or may not be happening. She would find out what was going first before informing her boys.

With that thought she put the diary in her beaded bag for safe keeping and apparated to The ministry of magic. Wondering how on earth she would make it through the day.


End file.
